( CM ) - Actor GEORGE CLOONEY infuriated moviemakers on the set of THE PERFECT STORM when he developed an unlikely obsession - with the winter sport curling.
The Hollywood star was first introduced to the game - similar to bowls, but played on ice - when he tuned into the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics on his hotel room TV in Canada, where a large portion of the boating disaster film was shot.
At first, Clooney found himself flummoxed by the strange spectacle of skaters frantically sweeping the ice with brooms in a bid to encourage the thrown granite stone to its target - but soon he was hooked, and struggled to tear himself away from the action when filmmaking duty called.
He recalls, "It was on every channel and I was like, 'What the hell? My God, have something more on.'
"But by the third month, they couldn't get me out of the hotel room. I was like, 'Hang on! That's proper technique, they've got a different shoe.'"